Arsenal 1 – 1 PSV: “Always look on the bright side of life…”
246 comments March 8th, 2007
Before going down to yesterday’s game, I watched the film of Nick Hornby’s Fever Pitch. There are some terrible things in that film, principally the fact that the affable lead character goes off with one of the most unpleasant women in cinema history. However, it does contain a valuable lesson: within football, there is always the comfort of next season. Unfortunately, most of us don’t have the chance to live our lives in seasons: everytime we make a mistake, we can’t be sure that come next August there’ll be another chance. In football, that other chance is not only a possibility – it’s guaranteed.
So on the back of 10 days or so when we crashed out of three seperate cup competitions, ending any chance of silverware we might have had this season, take a moment to step back and console yourself that there is always, always next year.
And now the game.
In retrospect, it’s easy to criticise the team selection. Gilberto stayed at centre-back, with Kolo Toure coming in at right-back. Denilson partnered Cesc in the midfield, and the big news was that Julio Baptista started ahead of the half-fit Thierry Henry.
I wouldn’t have started with Denilson. I know it’s easy to say now, but I think this kid is being played too much too soon. For the life of me, I couldn’t tell you why he is being picked ahead of the older, more experienced, and more powerful Abou Diaby. For me, a midfield containing Fabregas, Hleb, and Denilson is a bit like having lots of flashing Christmas lights, and no tree. Arsene’s midfield’s have always been about a steely centre with goalscoring wingers. That is now nothing but a distant memory, but surely Gilberto or Diaby would’ve helped bulk up our spine?
I would’ve started Henry too. Yes, he was plainly not fit, but if he was fit enough for Arsene to bring him on to try and win the game then he should have been fit enough to start. If he’d started, then broken down early on, we could’ve brought someone on to replace him. As it was, within one minute of coming on as a sub he was signalling to the bench that he needed to come off – a waste of a sub, and an almost entirely pointless exercise.
In the first half, Baptista came close with a couple of volleys and an Adebayor header drifted wide, but we went in 0-0. I remembered Fever Pitch, however: at Anfield in ’89 it was 0-0 at half-time. Anything was still possible.
With 58 minutes gone, we were halfway there. We had plenty of corners in the course of the game, but this one from Denilson was arguably our only decent one – Adebayor met it with a flick-on, and it bounced off the giant Alex and into the net.
Adebayor and Fabregas then both missed great chances to score, and Henry and Diaby were thrown on as Arsenal smelt blood. At this point, I spied the skulking figure of Fate in a corner of the Emirates. I sent a friend a text laced with irony saying, “The great thing is, if they score we’re out”. Lo and behold, Alex Hleb (who had a terrible game) committed a silly foul, PSV shifted the free-kick a few yards infield, and Alex atoned for his own goal with a climb and header that left Jens Lehmann utterly stranded. As if it couldn’t get any worse, it was a Chelsea boy who got the goal.
That was it. We were out, and everyone knew it: the team, the fans, and Arsene. Yes, we’d had chances to score, but one more goal wouldn’t have made any difference. The truth is we lost the tie in Eindhoven: if you fail to score in the away leg, you will always struggle.
So that’s it. Season over (sort of). It certainly may be over for Thierry Henry, depending on the extent of his apparently new injuries. It’s definitely over in terms of winning any silverware. All we have to play for is Champions League qualification, which I for one am certain we will achieve.
But of course, there’s always next year. The key is simply to make sure that next year is different to this one. Two years without a prize isn’t good enough for Arsene or his team. It’s vital that we don’t sink into the comfort of “transition” for a third year running: changes must be made, on the pitch and off it, to ensure that we are seriously challenging for the Premiership again next year. I for one couldn’t give a monkeys for the other competitions at this stage – success in the league helps drive you to further victories, but you must get it right domestically first.
And that’s a positive message. We have something very clear to aim for. Let’s buckle down and concentrate on coming back in August absolutely ready for the challenges ahead. As the PSV fans sang as they strolled into the next round, “Always look on the bright side of life…”
